No I have not

But I want to watch the build....

What I did to the shiny metal

I ran across a post about painting shiny metal....it gave me some ideas....I wanted to dull down the shiny-ness and leave an aged patina texture overall. I relied exclusively on rattle can spray paint. I first put a very  light vapor coat of gray primer. Next I put a similar light coat of Rustoleum hammered paint (standing about 3 feet away...not quite the required 'social distance' but adequate for the job). The result was exactly what I wanted as a base for future weathering. After that I departed from the instructions and glued the mylar windows on the outside of each piece and encircled each window with wood trim. 

3 Years On The Porch

There is a local "character" here in the Seattle area known as Baby Gramps that is a - shall we say "unique" musician - and an eclectic model railroader.  He brings his always changing display of trains and structures to display at train shows (non operating).  His models are sometimes whimsical, but always weathered, sometimes to the extreme.

So one day a few years back I was admiring one of his Suydam metal structures that was nicely rusted, and I asked him how he achieved the believable look?  Did he use, for example, Dullcoat and Bragdon powders (trying to show him my base knowledge of weathering).

"Naw" he replied, "I just left it out on the porch for about 3 years"....  Knowing him, I've no reason to doubt him.

Al Carter, Mount Vernon, WA

Suydam Barton Flats Kit

John E

I came across this thread just as I am about to tackle the Barton Flats kit which I purchased 50+ years ago.  It's been sitting on a shelf waiting for a layout to come along.  My retirement layout now has a spot for it - as well as a pond.

I am curious as to your experience with this kit.  Mine would probably be staying on the shelf if I had to solder.  Fortunately there is now CA.

Any advice to pass along or pitfalls to avoid?

Thanks,

Jack M

Helpful Link

Bill Hambly's Model Railroad Info Guy website has an article on building the Suydam Day & Night Water Heater factory that is very helpful-  https://www.model-railroad-infoguy.com/suydam-metal-buildings.html

I have the Suydam Grain Elevator kit and I am planning to tackle soon to try out my soldering skills (or lack thereof) with my new soldering iron.  (I plan to keep the fire extinguisher and aloe vera gel handy as I don't think I can accurately solder HO pieces while wearing welder's gloves.) 

Lou in California

Thanks Lou

Thanks Lou, I'll check out the link.  I also have the Suydam Sawmill Kit, so if this one is successful I may give that one a try.

Jack in Wisconsin

Suydam metal

I have put together a couple metal kits by soldering just per the kit instructions. I think but not positive it’s a difference in the solder. I don’t remember the technique being different.

JackM., what part of Wisconsin are you in? I live outside of the Capital in Verona.

I believe this is the Black Bart mine building from Suydam, 40+ years ago, I soldered this.

Tom 

Soldering

I like the corrugated metal structures, but I'm not up for soldering. I'm ok with electrical soldering but this is a different ballgame. The Infoguy website covers it pretty thoroughly - different equipment, different solder/flux, etc.

I'm hoping CA (the thick stuff) will work.  It wasn't around back in the day, so soldering was probably the only alternative for a metal kit.

We're up in the Green Bay area.

Soldering vs Glue

I tried soldering (no success; probably bad technique/materials)...so I used heavy CA glue along with adding some interior wood pieces to provide stronger joints when gluing corners/edges. 

Reality Sets In

So I laid out all the parts for the sawmill kit and thoroughly read the instructions.  I then carefully put all the parts back in the box and put the box back on the shelf.  Kits made 50+ years ago are a lot different than contemporary wood kits - and it's not just about the metal components.

End of project - life's too short. 

Update

After backing away from the Suydam Barton Flats lumber mill kit, I decided to attempt the smaller Suydam Sawmill kit.  CA and Goo worked fairly well in lieu of soldering, but I ended up adding a wooden framework in place of the vertical metal "posts".  A couple of Woodland Scenics Rural Sawmill kits were cobbled together for the interior.  With inspiration from Pelsea's excellent Sawmill 2 blog and David Popp's Olympia 2 series on MRVP (and a lot of artistic license) I think it turned out fairly well.  

Timber logs look GREAT!

Wow! Did you cut and paint each of those timber logs individually (photo #3).  Were those from a kit or just from outside? 

Nice Work

The sawmill looks great.  Thank you for updating us on the Barton Flats Lumber Mill decision.  Every time I open the box and look at my Suydam kit I just replace the lid and put the box back on the shelf of doom.

Lou in California

Logs

The full logs and half logs for the pond are from a company called Details N Scale in Portland OR (just don't tell anyone I'm buying "sticks").  The pulpwood load was harvested from our wooded lot, and I picked up the pulpwood stack at a consignment sale - it takes a lot of twigs (and patience) to make one of those.

Suydam Solder Kits

Built many of them at least 30-40 years ago when I was doing commissioned structures.

Not as bad as they look.

* Pre-tin the parts to be attached. Doesn't take much.

* I used modified (a selection of angled noses) wooden clothespins to hold things in place as I applied heat.

* I used a Weller gun.

* Once part is clamped in place with the clothespins, touch the hot gun to the joint where your solder is: Presto.

* Let the solder "freeze" before you un-clamp. (Doesn't take too long unless you held the gun on the joint too long and the parts heated up too long.

Beauty of the system is that you can assemble such a kit in record fashion. Took far longer to paint/weather than it does to assemble.

Paint:

I used a flat gray primer to represent oxidized corrugated iron followed with some applications of rust as needed and where desired/etc.

Suydam Solder Kits: Fear them not.

Andre